Brothership under development
by MrTwinklehead
Summary: Crashman & Quickman have always acted like brothers to each others. But how did it all begin?


It was night, a storm was breaking out, and a sudden lightning brightened up the Skull Castle for an instant. Out of the windows, on the top floor, of the highest tower, the inside stone walls was shortly decorated with the shadow of its owner.

The maniac, Dr Wily, was grinding his light yellow teeth against each other, as he was cursing his former partners, Dr Light, robot, Rockman. Dr Wily turned around, giving the window a cold back, and he smashed his skinny fist into the table.

"Damn that Rockman!" he shouted, the room gave away a little eco, circling around the room for a couple of seconds. Dr Wily looked into the darkest corner of the room. There, eighth capsules, all keeping a robot, were standing. "It is time to activate them."

Dr Wily slowly walked towards the controls of the capsules; he looked at the eighth of them. Which would he activate first? His looks came upon one of the red Robots. Dr Wily was playing around with his fingers, before the right forefinger pressed down the button with a sign above it that said: 'Quickman'.

A low "pssh" came from the capsule, and the red robot, with a majestic boomerang on his forehead, opened his eyes. Two, loyal green eyes looked around the dark room, when a sudden lightning struck again, the robot had managed to register the whole room by the time it vanished. He looked at his master.

"Who are you?" the robot asked in a dark tone. He examined the creature before he stepped out of the capsule, the rough, cold stone floor didn't seem to bother him.

Dr Wily cleared his throat easily. "I'm Dr Wily," he started in a calm tone. "And I'm your creator you." Dr Wily walked towards his creation, impressed by its reaction of the wake up call. Dr Wily turned around, now walking to the controls again.

Quickman's ears registered a fussing, coming from one of the other capsules, and he went into a defense pose. Quickman wasn't sure what a defense pose was, but he someway found the pose of fists raised before his face would be defense, whatever that was, enough.

Clonk! It sounded like metal hit rock, and the doctor became confused. He walked through the weak mist that the capsule had released, and he went down on his knees. He examined the robot that had fallen. "That's weird…" he mumbled, but Quickman's robotic ears were able to pick it up.

He examined the unconscious red robot laying on the floor. The robot had something that looked like a piece of glass pointing out of his forehead, maybe some kind of eye protection, and instead of hands, the robot had two fearful looking drills attached. Quickman's mind pick out the name 'Crashman' to describe this one.

Dr Wily searched after faults in his other creation, but he didn't seem to find anything wrong with him. "Hm…" Quickman heard Dr Wily sigh. "You wise ass…" Dr Wily didn't show any traces of a happy face when he turned around. "He is sleeping!" Dr Wily hurriedly rushed over to the window, and spat out his anger to the robot. "Quickman, you may check out the castle." Dr Wily made a pose, showing Quickman a gigantic, majestic, tree door. "You will, after all, be living here for the rest of your life." Dr Wily looked down at the sleeping Crashman. "Take him with you too."

No more words came from the master as he walked to the controls yet again. Quickman didn't really know what his master was doing, but something told him that he did it for the sake of his own sanity. Quickman took up Crashman in his arms, walking out through the gigantic doors. Stone walls and stone floor, it was stone all over. He was so busy examining it all, he didn't noticed that the other robot had awakened.

A pair of blue, innocent eyes, popped up from below the eye protection, and the robot named Crashman looked up at Quickman, his mind registered the name Quickman at once. Crashman lifted one of his drills, and it transformed into a regular hand. He poked Quickman lightly in the chest.

At first, Quickman didn't notice, but as the touch seemed to repeat itself, he looked down, and noticed the robot had awakened. He jumped in fright, and he also tossed the robot away.

"Ah!" he screamed. "You scared me!" Quickman gasped for air, he had never been so scared. But when he thought of it, it was no wonder,. He had just woke up.

The younger fella, who just recently been tossed away, smoothly landed on his feet. "That wasn't nice," he said with a young voice. It was clearly seen that Crashman was supposed to be of a younger kind, both by appearance and by voice. "Why did you toss me like that Quickie…?" A pair of gigantic, glowing green eyes came from below the screen.

Quickman wasn't sure of what to say. His personality program hadn't really gotten enough information, and he thought he reaction was supposed to be a surprised one. If it was going to be a nice one or a bad one, he didn't know. "I told you, you scared me!" he said again, with a little bit of frustration in it.

Soon, through the doors were Dr Wily currently resided, came all the other robots that Quickman had seen before. First came what to Quickman looked like a stump, his mind registered the name Woodman. Second a green scuba diver came, telling him that his name was Bubbleman. After that, came another red robot. He had a pair of metal gears on his shoulders, obviously this one is called Metalman. Soon there after, came a huge fan looking robot, with a blue body and yellow legs, and his name was Airman. Then, another blue robot came out, also having parts of his body yellow, apparently, his name was Flashman, Quickman didn't really see why… And last, a lighter came. A yellow lighter, having a pair of legs and arms, and he was named Heatman.

"Talk about convenient," Quickman mumbled to himself. The robot named Flashman walked towards Quickman and he made a bow to him. Quickman wasn't sure of anything at this moment, but it seemed like Flashman had already gotten himself a personality. Unsure of it, Quickman bowed as well.

"Greetings, Quickman," Flashman said in a calm and gentle tone. "For every second I have been alive, my circuits have been telling be to make contact with as many other robots as I can." Quickman was confused, the nice speaking made Quickman somehow, I dunno, confused. Something told him, that if he was with this fella too much, something he wouldn't like would happen. But at the same time, something told him, that if he just left, something bad would happen as well.

"Eh… Hi," he replied to Flashman, raising a hand carefully and waved barely. Suddenly, without any warning, he was being tackled down to the ground in something that could have been a hug. Quickman tried to examine who it was, but with the light weight upon him, it wasn't really much of a problem to stand up. He noticed the youngster, Crashman, was the problem. "Crashman…? What are you doing?"

"Heatman scares me!" he said at once, kinda yelping. "And Quickie is the only one I trust…!" The other robots find the nickname kind of amusing, making several of them giggle. The giggling was registered by Crashman's ears; he turned around, still hugging Quickman. "What?"

"It seems it's only them that doesn't have any real personalities," mumbled Metalman from under his red mask. "What a pity…"

"I don't have one," said Bubbleman emotionless. Metalman mumbled something, not really sure about what, but it sounded like something about an idiot. "And not Woodman eit-"

"Yeah, yeah, I get the point," Metalman interrupted. He looked at the confused Quickman, and even if it wasn't seen, he smiled from down under the mask. What was he thinking of about Quickman…?

All the robots strolled together trough the castle, it was really big, and sometimes they found out that they were one robot short, Bubbleman being the one that was lost. Some of them had along the way peaked outside a window, seeing the world outside. Still not fully activated, the robots got scared, and wished that they would never need to go out there, into the big world.

Crashman was really excited, it seemed his personality chip was reacting to the surroundings, and the little pieces of jolliness he had programmed into him had grown into a happy and an easy-going personality. "Yeah, yeah! This is awesome!" He turned around to the still silent Quickman. "Right, Quickie?"

Quickman was looking at a pillar. For him, it seemed like it was going on and on, but when he was called on by Crashman, he looked down at him. "Sure." Yet, even if the others seemed to, Quickman hadn't YET developed a specific personality. At the moment, he was just mostly curious on everything that caught his eye.

"Oi, Quickman…" An elbow weakly poked Quickman's side. When he looked over his shoulder, Metalman was standing there. "Have you seen the outside yet? It is huge." Quickman walked to one of the thin windows, and when he looked out, his eyes widened up. He looked surprised, and not as the others, scared.

"I can't wait…" he said low. "The outside, it looks beautiful." Metalman sighed. He pulled Quickman away from the window, no, not pulled, dragged Quickman away from the window.

Up in Dr Wilys office, the lord of the castle was looking over his creations from a security camera. "Hm," he mumbled as he played with his gray mustache. "They seem to be proceeding well. Maybe I can start my act earlier anyway…" Dr Wily thought for a while. "Eh! Who am I kidding? Of course I can't!" Dr Wily turned away from the screen and walked away.

With the robots Metalman and Airman, Quickman found themselves in a big hall. On the walls, there were paintings, all resembling their master. Or almost everyone. One of them was a picture of another old man, with a big Santa beard, and next to him stood another robot, as they could see. This robot was dressed in only blue of different lightning. Something told all of them that they would meet this guy soon.

The other five robots were all standing in a room, with thousands of books. Flashman had checked a sign outside, and he told that it had said 'Library'. Woodman was scared. He wasn't sure why, but he was sure of one thing. He could somehow have 'known' any of these books. "Why is this castle so big anyway…?" Heatman mumbled from below the cap of his armor. "I'm sick of it already, and I bet there is lots of more space here too." Bubbleman found a door, leading to another room. "What did I tell ya…?"

Quickman looked at Metalman and Airman. "Why did you drag me away like that?" he asked. He was mad, but not as much as he was irritated. Being taken away from the sight of something you like, well, you don't really like that.

"We have plans, Quickman," Metalman answered. "Due to the fact that you yet don't have a personality, me and Airman have the plans to make you the third member." Quickman frowned. "We are sick of the fact of knowing that you might turn out just like that pity one, Crashman. And well, to make a long story short, we are planning to help you develop a personality comparable to ours." Metalman tied his fist, showing that he wasn't joking. He shoved his hand towards Quickman. "Are you with us? Or do you wanna become another pussy?"

Quickman had managed to develop a little personality; it wasn't a good one though. It was like, he could stand up for himself, he just didn't do it very well. A push over to put it short. Any kind of pressure and he would fall like a rock did in water. He took hand with Metalman, and they shook hands. Metalman was smiling again.

A couple of days went by, and it was clearly apparent that Quickman's time with Metalman and Airman had certainly given him an attitude. Even his walking was different; he was walking like he was the ruler of them all. His eyes were different; they radiated an aura of one that fear nothing. His smile was different; it wasn't a smile anymore.

Woodman also got himself a piece of personality. He was the paranoid one, he looked around his shoulder from time to time, and he was sometimes found sobbing. No one was really sure why. Just when they approached him, he would scream something about books. No one understood why he was screaming about that.

And the last one, Bubbleman, he had of course chosen the way of the clumsy one. Every tenth step (literally), he tripped on his flippers to feet. And if he was even more unlucky, he would fall into something. Either something harmless, or some kind of electricity if he was really unlucky.

Crashman sat by a table and lied down on it, arms crossed as a pillow for his head. He sighed.

"What's the matter, Crashman?" Flashman had sat down by the table. He crossed his legs and laid both his hands down on the table. "There seems to be something bothering you."

"I don't know Flashman," Crashman muttered, his eyes expressed a depressing feeling. "I just feel lonely." He looked up at Flashman, still lying down on the table. "I can't put the finger on it, but it feels like someone is missing." He looked out the window; a bird flew by, singing its song. Crashman sighed yet again.

Yet another couple of days went by, and Dr Wily had made his decision. "It is time." He walked towards a microphone, he picked it up. "Attention, Robot Masters," he pronounced. "I have decided to take you to the next level. Come up, at once, to my office." Just a couple of seconds later, the door was opened, and the trio resembling Metalman, Airman and Quickman had arrived.

Not long after, the rest of the robots arrived. "You might have noticed that you don't really have any special powers." Some of the robots nodded. "This 'next level' I was talking about is all about just those powers." Dr Wily brought out eight chips. "In each of these, a special power is sealed. When I activate these, when they are in your circuits, your true powers will awake."

The Robot Masters looked at each others, both impressed, but also confused. "Now, I'm going to ask you nicely to lay down on these tables," Dr Wily showed them a pair of surgery tables behind him, "so I can successfully shut you down and install this without hurting your programming. If you're not going to do it nicely, I'm going to have to do it the hard way."

In an instant, Metalman sat on one of those tables, with legs and arms crossed. Slowly, the rest of the group started to follow his example, all took a table of their own. Dr Wily was pleased. "Good." His hand moved to a control switch. "Don't worry, it will feel like nothing happened."

Clack! A sudden small lightning struck them all, and their visions turned black. Dr Wily checked every chip, to make sure he didn't give the wrong power to the wrong robot, because that wouldn't bring him any closer to his goal.

A couple of minutes later, Dr Wily close the hatch on the head of the last Robot Master. "There." He cleaned his hands from oils as he looked down at them all. "It is time to activate them again." The power switch was turned back on, and slowly, the Robot Masters woke up. "Can you feel the power within?"

Some of them seemed to, while others just looked confused at Dr Wily. One of those feeling it was Quickman. He looked at his hand, and he could almost see the aura around it. He looked at his two comrades; they had both felt it as well. A quick glance at the other robots showed that none of them had really felt anything. But it did seem as the youngest one, Crashman, had felt it.

Dr Wily examined all their reactions, some things were clear to him now. "Listen, I didn't bring you here just to give you your special powers," he rambled. "You are here to test your new ability as well." Dr Wily walked towards a door, that no one really had noticed. The only thing they had in mind about the door, was the fact that it was made out of metal, and not wood like the entry door.

"Behind this door, there is a chamber. A holo deck as I would like to call it. When you enter, the machinery will scan your powers, and create a stage that is adjusted just a little bit more powerful than your powers. Not only do you need power, but strategy." Dr Wily looked at his creations. "Who want to go first?" At first, no one wanted, but suddenly, Woodman came forward. "Good Woodman. I never thought you would do it, with your freaked out personality."

"I don't want to either!" he said a little panicked. "I was pushed forward by-" Dr Wily dragged him to the door. As it opened, Dr Wily managed to push the heavy log into the room. It was locked behind him, and everybody went silent. Soon, a screaming was coming from inside.

"Oh yeah!" Dr Wily suddenly remembered something; he took a remote control, and a screen came down. "We can all watch what kind of environment you could get into, or just watch the one that is inside." Their attentions were directed at the screen. They saw how Woodman was running, but from what wasn't yet seen. Soon though, a giant bumble bee took shape on the screen, and some were shocked. "Woodman! Use your weapon!"

Woodman tried everything, but he wasn't sure of what he was doing. Suddenly, he felt this emotion swell up inside him, someone was calling. Suddenly, a shield of levitating leafs were surrounding him, and he felt that he had the courage to stop. His wooden looking legs screeched against the floor as he looked terrified into the giant bumble bee's eyes. Sweat tears peered down his cheeks, and he felt that feeling again. In an attempt, Woodman managed to throw away the shield, damaging the bee, and it slowly disappeared. Soon, the environment did as well, and Woodman could breath.

Out through the door came Woodman. He was met with an applause from his friends, and as the shy guy he was, he started to blush. "Yes, as seen, I've created a strong shield for Woodman," Dr Wily pronounced. " It is not only for protection, it is also available as a weapon of his." Dr Wily looked at the group. "Flashman, you're up!"

The gentle Robot Master jumped neatly down from his table. When he walked past Woodman, he clapped him on the shoulder, and the door shut behind him as he went inside. An illusion of a massive battle field came up before him. "Hm… Most unpleasant," he mumbled. He analyzed the area, and he saw a giant reactor beyond a giant gap. The monsters of the scene were gathering before him.

Unknown of his powers, Flashman activated his right hand, turning it into a gun. Soon, the scene was sparkling, and Flashman noticed that the monsters weren't moving. Flashman saw the point and deactivated the effect. He then lured them all to go towards the giant gap. Soon, he had fooled them down the pit and the weapon was activated! Success! Flashman had managed to create a bridge out of the monsters, and he rushed forward. He pointed his gun towards the reactor, and soon, it went 'Ka-Boom'!

Out came Flashman, in went Crashman. The surroundings this time was an underground tunnel. Water was dripping from the ceiling. Crashman looked around, seeing nothing like the reactor like the one from Flashman's course. He took few steps forward, when suddenly the ground started to shake. Up from earth came four giant totem robots, all surrounding Crashman.

Without hesitation, Crashman activated his weapon, turning his hands into drills, and soon, a small sound of drilling was heard. Crashman looked at his opponents, and he saw two small lamps on both of the two he had shot at. He heard a weak 'tick-tack-tick-tack'. Soon, the pace of the ticking went faster, and so did the twinkling of the lamps. Crashman understood at once what it was. A pair of bombs!

Soon enough, the two bombs detonated. Everyone, even the evil ones, looked at the screen, in hope that their comrade was okay. As the smoke screen settled down, they saw that Crashman was okay. The only damage he had gotten was a pair of scratches in his armor, or else the bombs didn't seem to have harmed him at all. Amazed by his armors withstanding, Crashman had almost forgotten his other enemies, and was overpowered as more came forward.

He managed to escape his current imprisonment. Crashman shot away several bombs, all of them drilling deep into his opponents armor. Soon, they were destroyed as well. Soon after the last robot was destroyed, a capsule rose from the earth. Not sure if it was supposed to be destroyed or not, Crashman sneaked towards it. His robot eyes controlled everything, yet nothing about it was told.

Crashman took a wild chance and punched his drillike hand through it. The environment vanished, and the door opened. Out he walked, still impressed of his armor. Next robot in was Metalman. He wasn't really that impressed by Crashman, and he would prove to all the others that they should fear him. Not Crashman. "Fire it off boss," he said to Dr Wily right before the door slipped together.

Once again, the room transformed. This time, they were facing a factory, and just as Metalman was taking a look at the surroundings, the alarm went. The security came as soon as possible, and Metalman was on the move. The more robots it was gathering behind, the more running through the building Metalman had to do. Soon, he had enough. Out from nowhere, he pulled a pair of metal gears, and threw them at the robots, splitting the enemies into piece. Metalman was grinning as he kept running deeper.

Soon, the corridors turned darker, and Metalman slowed down. He wasn't equipped with anything to lighten things up, so only small chances were taken. He felt something, and bright light met his eyes. Before him stood a massive machine, arms equipped with claws and flamethrowers. Metalman pulled out several gears, throwing them wildly.

"No use," Metalman mumbled as they bounced off. He made a back flip as the machine attacked with its flamethrower, and suddenly, Metalman's eyes caught something in its view. The back of the robot was open and clearly vulnerable. Metalman took a shot and ran for it, thus, the robot turned with him, and soon, Metalman barely jumped over one of its claws. "I get it now."

Pieces of metal flew through the air, hitting one of the buckled out corners, and as the gears hit it, they took a turn, dashing right into the fragile parts. The machinery crumbled as it was being destroyed, and soon enough, the room turned back. Metalman strolled proudly out of the room; it was clearly that his was of a much higher level then the rest of the earlier ones. "Go get them," he clapped Quickman on the shoulder as they passed each other.

Standing in a battle pose, Quickman felt he was ready to fight. The stage turned all blurry, or so it seemed to them outside. For Quickman, it was clear. I They are running quite fast. /I Quickman took a step forward. "But I'm faster!" he shouted out before pulling out a boomerang and attacked the monsters, in a speed so remarkable that it was only a few seconds later that Quickman landed with the so called monsters shattered into pieces.

Quickman wasn't pleased. He knew that Dr Wily knew about his abilities, so why was this the only thing he met? To be honest, that wasn't all. Over Quickman rose a shadow, and as he turned around, the shining eyes of a giant android was staring at him. "Now we're talking." Grinning happily, Quickman jumped into the air, coming up at the same height as the androids face.

"Take this!" Five boomerangs flew out, hitting it in its eyes. The android roared in pain, and tried to take a hold of Quickman with one of its giant fists. Being seen only as a line, Quickman soared through the air, landing softly on one of the walls. He summoned a bigger boomerang. This one looked more like a sword rather then something you would throw. He jumped of the wall, and landed smoothly on the giants head.

"It is over!" The giant boomerang pierced down into the androids skull, sending out electric bolts that passed Quickman with just an inch from damaging results. He jumped down to the floor, and at the moment he landed, so did the android. The android's face more exactly, and soon, the parade was over. Walking out, with eyes closed, the others were definitely impressed.

The challenges continued, and as the further they went, the tenser the challenges got. Thus, soon enough, all eight of them had managed to finish of their challenges. Dr Wily was pleased with the result. "Yes indeed," he said as Heatman took his seat. "I was right to give you access to your powers." He glared at them all. "I have no more to say. You can all go now."

Later on, as the sun started to fall, all the Robot Master had shattered up, all going on with their own business. Crashman was not really sure of what to do. At first, he was with Flashman. But when he started to read poems, Crashman got tired and left, leaving Flashman to read poems out loud for himself. Suddenly, when walking the halls, he hit someone. Looking up, he saw that is was Quickman talking his regular walk. "Hi Quickie!" he called at once.

Quickman didn't answer, he just kept walking. Crashman hurried after. "Why are you following me?" Quickman asked in a cold tone. "Don't you know that I prefer to be on my own?" He looked down at what he thought of as an annoying object.

"Yes, you always say that. But I know… I know that you really like it," Crashman replied, meeting a frowning Quickman. "I can see it in your eyes, that you really don't like the company of Metalman and Airman." Quickman stopped. "Come on, Quickie! You feel lonely, don't you? Just like me, lonely."

Quickman turned around to Crashman. He went down on his knees and put his hands on Crashman's shoulders. "Listen pal…" He took a hard grip on Crashman's shoulders. "You can't decide what I think… Not about my friends, and especially NOT about me!" He spat on the ground. "And you, lonely? I don't think so…"

Pushing Crashman down to the floor, Quickman stood up on his steady feet and walked away. Crashman laid one of his hands on the opposite shoulder, holding it firmly, as the pain was still there. "Quickie…"

Lying down in his bed, Quickman stared into the ceiling. "Pff. Lonely. What a joke," Quickman said to himself. "I don't need anybody. I'm perfect on my own!"

Days later, Quickman found himself on his own. Sometimes he visited Metalaman and Airman, but for some reason, there was an emptiness inside of him. Quickman gave a thought of what Crashman had said to him earlier, maybe he was right? No! Couldn't be! Quickman didn't need anyone, or did he? The thoughts flew threw his head, and they were there the whole afternoon, until the very moment he fell asleep.

Just a couple of rooms away, Crashman was starring at the ceiling as well. His shoulder was still in pain, but due to the time that had passed by, it wasn't noticeable to him anymore. His thoughts were directed at the boomerang man, the man that was the first one Crashman had seen. He had a reaction likeable to that of a baby had, and Quickman was his mother. He felt like he had no one, but he knew he had lots. It just didn't feel right without Quickman around. "Quickie…" The drowsy eyes closed as he begun his travel to the land of Dreams.

A couple of weeks passed by, and from time to time, Crashman and Quickman passed each others ways, but they only managed to share 10 words, and then havoc almost broke lose. Dr Wily had seen that several times. He realized that this would continue to happen, unless he did something about it. The microphone was lifted from the desk. "Attention Robot Masters!" he announced. "Gather by the huge metal door, I have another mission for you."

Dr Wily walked down the massive stone stairs. And as he arrived at the huge metal door, which there was a sign saying: 'Don't open!', all of them had gathered. "Now, you will all go through another test." Woodman shuttered. "This time, I want to see if you can cooperate with others." He looked at all them, trying to figure out who to work with who. Two he had obviously already thought out.

"Quickman and Crashman, you two are a team." The two of them barely looked at each other. "Metalman, you'll be working with Woodman. And don't you dare try to cut him into pieces, or I'll do the same to you." Metalman crossed his arms. "Heatman, you will work with Flashman." The two made a high five. "And at last, Airman with Bubbleman."

Dr Wily turned his back to them. "Now, the reason we have gathered here, instead of the holo deck, is the fact that you should get to learn the actual outside world. Due to the fact that you will later go on outside on your own, and destroy cities and to defeat that pesky Rockman!" Dr Wily looked at a painting of the blue robot that Quickman, Metalman and Airman seen many weeks ago.

Behind them all, the creeks of a door that have been closed for many years, or maybe not even have been opened before, slowly opened. The Robot Masters looked at it in fear, amazement and excitement, all at the same time. What was beyond that very dazzling light blocking their views? "Anyhow, I will send all of you into certain coordination's, and your mission is to get back, both of you alive."

Before any complaints could come from the ever so paranoid Woodman, Dr Wily had pressed a button. And they transformed into beams, soaring into the skies, leaving Dr Wily to look at them separating in different directions. "If this doesn't get them closer to each other, I don't know what will." The door closed behind him, leaving a big and long echo in the hall.

Far south of the castle, Quickman and Crashman landed. Their surroundings were of a simple meadow. Quickman looked around. There was only meadow as long as his eyes could see, and taking the fact that they had better eyes then normal humans, it must have been a huge meadow.

"I guess we better get going," Quickman told Crashman, who was busy playing in the grass. "Crashman?" He walked towards Crashman, suddenly feeling the grass crossing his armor. Even for being made of metal, their body sill worked like a human beings. They could feel things against it. The soft feeling of grass against his leg, it was understandable now why Crashman was so happy.

"I'm sorry I have to interrupt you while you're having fun, but we better get back home." Quickman tried to connect to Crashman again, but it was no use. "Fine! Then so be it. I'm leaving you here." Quickman walked north, but after a couple of meters, he had to stop. He looked back at Crashman. A strange emotion rose from beneath the dark inside of him. It was warm.

Suddenly, a pain filled Quickman's circuits. He fell to the ground, unconscious. The thud of metal against ground got Crashman's attention, and when finding his comrade on the ground, he had to get up and rush to him. "Quickie!" He grabbed a hold on Quickman's shoulders, turning him around, and shaking him mildly. "Quickie! What's the matter?" Soon, a pair of gentle green eyes, slowly opened.

"You were right Crashman," he spoke with a voice, soft as silk. "You were right. I did feel lonely. Somehow, when we met, I didn't feel as lonely anymore. It was like I finally had someone. Like a little brother." Crashman's eyes widened at the words. "I don't know, it felt like Metalaman and Airman was cover over it. Like I was afraid to open up. I guess your feelings were strong enough to penetrate that very shield. I need to thank you."

Crashman was confused, this sudden change of personality wasn't really what he had thought. The sudden softness made him almost think that Flashman was with him, but at the same time, Crashman was happy. Knowing that the true side of Quickman had surfaced made him pleased, he didn't feel alone anymore.

"Then, let's get going, aniki!" Helping his new found friend up on his feet, the two of them looked in each others eyes, and smiled.

Brave and gentle steps, taken by the two Robot Masters, they slowly proceed on their journey back home. In the background, the sun started to rise.


End file.
